Swan Love

Last night, my wife, daughter and I were watching a new show on a local television channel. It was a show that featured the strong similarities between man and animal, and the very first animal they featured is a long-time favorite of mine: the swan.

It was a short feature about a real-life swan that fell in love with a swan-shaped pedal boat, similar to those pedal boats one finds on the waters of Burnham Park in Baguio.

Day and night, the live swan would stay beside the swan-boat. It swam beside the boat, it slept beside the boat, and it ate beside the boat. It literally lived beside the swan-boat.

At one time, the park authorities decided to take away the swan-boat. The live swan followed noisily as the swan-boat was brought out of the water and loaded onto a pick-up. The video showed the live swan raising a ruckus about the abduction of its’ “oversized inanimate lover”.

And while the swan-boat was away, the live swan supposedly did not seem to want to live the life of a regular swan.

And so the park authorities decided to bring the swan-boat back, and sure enough, as soon as the live swan saw the swan-boat, it followed it from the pick-up back into the water, and the two “paddled off into the sunset”.

The live swan and the human pedaled swan-boat.

Ironically, the swan is also the symbol of true, unconditional love.

Sadly, there are many people in similar situations.

People who choose to “love blindly” – often beyond all acceptable reason.

There is a world of difference between “blind love” and “loving unconditionally”.

At the onset, they may seem the same, but believe me, they are very, very different.

Loving unconditionally means loving a person despite and in spite of his or her past, present and future. Loving blindly is, just simply, loving blindly.

The first kind of love requires a knowledge of the other persons’ past, present and future. The second kind of love requires none of that.

Many people live the lives of the live swan. They waste their time pouring out their love and attention on people and in situations that will obviously not bear fruit.

They choose to love for the wrong reason. Often, their love is without reason at all. Like the live swan, they fail to see the other live swans swimming just around the corner, or across the lake or, in some cases, right beside them. Without their realizing it, they are actually depriving themselves of the love that may actually be waiting for them if only they would wake-up from the dream that they have created with the object of their misguided affection.

I have seen many cases such as this. I have counseled many in such situations. And, unfortunately, I have seen many lives wasted because of such inanimate love.

On the other hand, I have also seen the best of love.

I have seen those whose continuous love for another has brought about the miraculous change needed for love to flourish. I myself am a result of how true, unconditional love between people of different faiths resulted in siblings whose love for God is uncompromised.

In my work, I have seen how love has healed sick children, and how love has eased the passage of a person from this life to the next.

I have seen how love for family has provided employees with the strength and commitment to work long hours just to see a project through or to earn that extra hour or two of OT pay.

Jesus loves us unconditionally.

He loves us – despite and in spite of our past, our present… and our future. Just because he loves us despite our sins does not mean that he loves blindly. It means that he has decided to love us even in our sin.

But loving does not mean that we become exempt from the consequences of the choices we make. It is exactly because Jesus loves us that he allows us to choose the path we take. Whether it be his path or not.

But it is our choice.

To love in a manner that will set us free and bring out the best in us.

Or to love in a manner that will just lead our souls towards an inanimate future.